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In the following commentary, words in CAPS indicate the biblical text, while wordsin lower case indicate the commentary on that text.Studies in Revelationby Dr. John H. RollerChapter 6IntroductionNow we come to the beginning of the “exciting” part of the book of Revelation –the part that everybody likes to study. This is the part where history ispredicted before it happens, and we get to see how these prophecies werefulfilled. The vision of the “seven seals” extends from Revelation 6:1 throughRevelation 8:1.Revelation 6:1I SAW THAT THE LAMB (Jesus) OPENED ONE OF THE SEVEN SEALS (so that a portion ofthe scroll that represented the “title deed” to the earth – as we saw in our studyof Chapter 5 – could be unrolled, unveiling the progress of a portion of thehistory of the earth, from the Apostle John’s time toward the time of the SecondComing), AND I HEARD ONE OF THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES SAYING, AS WITH A VOICE OFTHUNDER, “COME AND SEE!”Revelation 6:2AND BEHOLD (“Look!”), A WHITE HORSE (the ancient equivalent of an armored car),AND HE WHO SAT ON IT HAD A BOW (he was preparing to go out conquering). A CROWNWAS GIVEN TO HIM (he had the authority to conquer), AND HE CAME FORTH CONQUERING,AND TO CONQUER. I think that the color of the horse is a clue as to what kind of“conqueror” this was, and from that clue we ought to be able to figure out whothis “conqueror” represented. White is a symbol of holiness or purity. This“conqueror” was on God’s side. I believe that this first seal is a prophecy of the“conquest” of the Roman Empire by Jesus Christ (the One who was pictured assitting on the white horse), which took place in history in the spread ofChristianity throughout that empire between AD 30 and AD 395. During those 365years, Christianity spread like a wild fire, starting in an obscure corner ofPalestine (the Galilee) and working its way throughout Asia Minor and Greece, intoItaly itself and around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, until almost half ofthe people supposedly living under the rule of Caesar were actually living underthe rule of Christ. This time period includes the entire Apostolic and PersecutionAges of Chapter 2 and the early part of the Constantinian Age. DispensationalFuturism would make this verse portray the coming of Antichrist instead of thecoming of Christ. If that were the case, then why would he be riding the whitehorse of purity and holiness? This question, alone, is enough to convince me thatDispensational Futurism is a wrong interpretation of Revelation, but the theoryhas many other problems, as well. I believe that Historicism provides a clearerand more reliable interpretation.Revelation 6:3WHEN HE (Jesus) OPENED THE SECOND SEAL, I HEARD THE SECOND LIVING CREATURE SAYING,“COME!” (I don’t know why – this time only – the creature wasn’t also reported assaying, “and see!” – and, in some copies of Revelation, those words are, indeed,included.)Revelation 6:4ANOTHER CAME FORTH, A RED HORSE. TO HIM WHO SAT ON IT WAS GIVEN POWER (that wordis “implied” in the text, rather than actually stated; what the text actually saysis, “To him who sat on it was given) TO TAKE (the) PEACE (the “Pax Romana” – theRoman “peace” which prevailed in the territory controlled by the Roman Empire for
 
almost 500 years, as the Roman armies enforced Roman law and prevented smallercountries from fighting each other, as they had previously been accustomed todoing) FROM THE EARTH (so, obviously, when “the peace” was “taken from” the earth,the result would be the coming of a war to the earth; that happened in AD 395,when the Roman Empire was split into East and West, and the Roman armies were nolonger able to enforce the famous “Pax”), AND THAT THEY (the people of thecountries that had formerly been ruled over by the Roman Empire) SHOULD KILL ONEANOTHER (which they promptly did). THERE WAS GIVEN TO HIM A GREAT (big) SWORD (anobvious symbol for a major war; red, of course, is the color of blood, and it iseasy to see why a red horse would be used to symbolize a war in which much humanblood is shed). This time period includes the rest of the Constantinian Age andthe beginning of the Medieval Age, up to about AD 606-610. Notable wars of theperiod include (among many others) the barbarian “sack” of Rome in AD 410 and thefinal collapse of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476.Revelation 6:5WHEN HE (Jesus) OPENED THE THIRD SEAL, I HEARD THE THIRD LIVING CREATURE SAYING,“COME AND SEE!” AND BEHOLD (“Look!”), A BLACK HORSE, AND HE WHO SAT ON IT HAD ABALANCE (a set of scales, used for weighing items against a standard set ofweights to determine their weight – also, a universally-recognized symbol forjustice and fairness) IN HIS HAND. If the rider on a white horse representedChrist, doesn’t it make sense that the rider on a black horse would representChrist’s opposite – Antichrist? So the third seal represented conditions thatwould prevail during the time of the Antichrist. I believe that time began in AD610, and that the Antichrist was the Roman Catholic system of government headed bythe Papacy (the succession of Popes) from then until AD 1870.Revelation 6:6I HEARD A VOICE IN THE MIDST OF THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES SAYING, “A CHOENIX(about a quart) OF WHEAT FOR A DENARIUS (the coin that would be paid to a “minimumwage” worker for one day’s work), AND THREE CHOENIX (about three quarts) OF BARLEYFOR A DENARIUS (the coin that would be paid to a “minimum wage” worker for oneday’s work)! Those would be extremely high prices, so this verse represents afamine – not a scarcity of food, in my opinion, but a scarcity of the Word of God.One of the major “crimes” of the Antichrist system was withholding access to theBible from people – only allowing the Bible to be in the hands of its priests andbishops. Here’s how that came about. The first step was for the Popes to declarethat the Bible is not the only source of authoritative teaching; there are threeother sources – logic, tradition and (especially) the teaching of the Church (aspromulgated by the authority of the Papacy). The next step was to declare that theauthority of the Church (as expressed in the teachings promulgated by the Papacy)superceded the authority of the Bible. Then it became logical to restrict accessto the Bible to avoid the possibility of an “unauthorized” person reading it andcoming up with their own interpretations, which might go against the teachings ofthe Church. At first, only laypeople were denied access to the Bible; later, evenlocal priests were denied access. At that point, only bishops, archbishops,cardinals and popes were allowed to read the Bible (and a lot of them didn’tbother, since they already knew what the Church taught, and knew that it wouldn’tdo them any good to read the Bible and come up with a different interpretation ofit). Eventually, it came down to where the only people who knew much about theBible were the monks who lived in monasteries. They made handwritten copies of itand wrote commentaries on it that hardly anybody ever read. The “cost” of gainingaccess to the “bread” became prohibitively high. DON’T DAMAGE THE OIL AND THEWINE!” Oil and wine are symbols of the Holy Spirit. The Papacy was unable towithhold the Holy Spirit from people, so the “oil” and the “wine” flowed freelyduring this time, even though people didn’t have access to the “bread” of life.Many true Christians, led by the Holy Spirit, refused to follow the Church’sunbiblical teachings and were persecuted to death (as individuals) and to
 
extinction (as groups) for doing so.Revelation 6:7WHEN HE (Jesus) OPENED THE FOURTH SEAL, I HEARD THE FOURTH LIVING CREATURE SAYING,“COME AND SEE!”Revelation 6:8AND BEHOLD (“Look!”), A PALE (sick-looking, light green colored) HORSE, AND HE WHOSAT ON IT, HIS NAME WAS (the) DEATH. This is not just “ordinary” death, but aprediction of the specific historical experience known as “The Black Death” – thebubonic plague that struck Europe in AD 1347-1351. HADES (the grave) FOLLOWED WITHHIM (people were dying so frequently, during those four years, that there wasn’tenough time to bury them individually; many thousands were buried in mass graves).AUTHORITY OVER ONE FOURTH OF THE EARTH (in this context, the expression “theearth” refers to the territory controlled by the Papacy – basically, Europe), TOKILL WITH THE SWORD (thinking back to the red horse), WITH FAMINE (thinking backto the black horse), WITH (the) DEATH (described here by the pale horse), AND BYTHE WILD ANIMALS OF THE EARTH (thinking ahead to the fifth seal) WAS GIVEN TO HIM(“Death”). The bubonic plague alone accounted for the death of over 20% of thepeople who had been alive in Europe at the time that it started, and the otherfactors (war, famine, etc.) accounted for almost another 5%; by the time theplague had run its course, Europe’s population was down to only 75% of what it hadbeen when the plague started.Revelation 6:9WHEN HE (Jesus) OPENED THE FIFTH SEAL, John might have been expecting to seeanother horse, probably of a different color, but that didn’t happen; instead, hereports, I SAW UNDERNEATH THE ALTAR (in the heavenly temple that he was seeing inthis vision) THE SOULS (literally, the blood; see Leviticus 17:14, where the“life” – same Hebrew word that is usually translated as “soul” – “of all flesh isthe blood thereof”) OF THOSE WHO HAD BEEN KILLED FOR THE WORD OF GOD, AND FOR THETESTIMONY OF THE LAMB WHICH THEY HAD. This verse refers to the persecution andmartyrdom of many millions of true Christians in the Inquisition (which actuallybegan before the bubonic plague of AD 1347-1351, and continued after the greatearthquake of AD 1755, but was concentrated mostly in the 400 years between thosetwo events), and views their deaths as if they were sacrifices to God.Revelation 6:10THEY (the “souls” – literally, the blood) CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE (like Abel’sblood, in Genesis 4:10, which is also referred to in Hebrews 11:4 and Hebrews12:24), SAYING, “HOW LONG, MASTER, THE HOLY AND TRUE, UNTIL YOU JUDGE AND AVENGEOUR BLOOD ON THOSE WHO DWELL ON THE EARTH?” The murder of an innocent human being– particularly the politico-religious church/state-authorized murder of a followerof Jesus Christ – “calls out” for the judicial execution of the murderer(s). Thecall is just, and it is a call for justice, but it is a call that will not reallybe answered until the Judge appears (that is, until the Second Coming of Christ).Revelation 6:11A LONG WHITE ROBE WAS GIVEN TO EACH OF THEM. THEY WERE TOLD THAT THEY SHOULD REST(sleep in their graves) YET FOR A WHILE (literally, from the time that they werekilled until the time when the Judge comes), UNTIL THEIR FELLOW SERVANTS AND THEIRBROTHERS, WHO WOULD ALSO BE KILLED EVEN AS THEY WERE, SHOULD COMPLETE THEIRCOURSE. Persecution and martyrdom was particularly intense during the Inquisition,but it didn’t completely end when the Inquisition ended. It is still going ontoday, and it is actually increasing in many parts of the world, although notparticularly in those countries in which the Papacy sponsored it during the middleages. See Daniel 12:7 and my comment on it – “WHEN THEY HAVE MADE AN END OFBREAKING IN PIECES THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE, ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE
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watchuwand?

Neat. But Yeshua was a Hebrew, he had a Bar Mitzva and his disciples were Hebrew as well. The Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world was foreshadowed in the prophesy of Daniel, and has Seven Eyes and Seven Horns, in conjunction with the Seven Seals you have the Number 21. There are Twenty One Influences of Nature. As the Children of Adam are exiled from Pardesh (the Garden of Eden) they sojourn among Twenty One Influences until the Death of Nature and the opening of the Gates to the City Beyond the Prison.

reply07 / 09 / 2009
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